necessity
something necessary or indispensable: food, shelter, and other necessities of life.
the fact of being necessary or indispensable; indispensability: the necessity of adequate housing.
an imperative requirement or need for something: the necessity for a quick decision.
the state or fact of being necessary or inevitable: to face the necessity of testifying in court.
an unavoidable need or compulsion to do something: not by choice but by necessity.
a state of being in financial need; poverty: a family in dire necessity.
Philosophy. the quality of following inevitably from logical, physical, or moral laws.
Idioms about necessity
of necessity, as an inevitable result; unavoidably; necessarily: Our trip to China must of necessity be postponed for a while.
Origin of necessity
1synonym study For necessity
Other words for necessity
Other words from necessity
- non·ne·ces·si·ty, noun, plural non·ne·ces·si·ties.
- su·per·ne·ces·si·ty, noun, plural su·per·ne·ces·si·ties.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for necessity
/ (nɪˈsɛsɪtɪ) /
(sometimes plural) something needed for a desired result; prerequisite: necessities of life
a condition or set of circumstances, such as physical laws or social rules, that inevitably requires a certain result: it is a matter of necessity to wear formal clothes when meeting the Queen
the state or quality of being obligatory or unavoidable
urgent requirement, as in an emergency or misfortune: in time of necessity we must all work together
poverty or want
rare compulsion through laws of nature; fate
philosophy
a condition, principle, or conclusion that cannot be otherwise
the constraining force of physical determinants on all aspects of life: Compare freedom (def. 8)
logic
the property of being necessary
a statement asserting that some property is essential or statement is necessarily true
the operator that indicates that the expression it modifies is true in all possible worlds: Usual symbol: □, ∟
of necessity inevitably; necessarily
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with necessity
In addition to the idiom beginning with necessity
- necessity is the mother of invention
also see:
- make a virtue of necessity
- of necessity
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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